


Frozen In Time

by Hoshinawa



Category: Warcross - Marie Lu
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Internal Conflict, New York City, times square
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 12:32:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13547406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoshinawa/pseuds/Hoshinawa
Summary: Emika has been struggling with her feelings for Hideo ever since he revealed the horrifying truth about the NeuroLink. No matter what point of view she looks at it from, his actions never seem to be justified, but at the same time, she simply can't seem to shake off the feelings she continues to feel for him. It seems like a never-ending journey towards a decision, until all of a sudden, the very man who had turned her life upside down shows up in Times Square through a mysterious note, and rattles her heart once again.





	Frozen In Time

“Emika.” A breathy voice tickles my nerves and sends a cascade of butterflies out into the open blackness as my heart soars at the sound.

“Hideo?” I call out, my heart thumping in my chest, but my head weary.

“Emika,” He calls out again, as he steps into view, the only light in a world of nothingness. 

I breathe out deeply before I feel myself running to him, my feet moving on their own, splashing through the thin layer of water coating the surface of the world, until I wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his neck, breathing in the scent of freshly pressed suits mingled in with a faint aroma of lingering spices. 

But when I look up, I see earnest and passion masking a vulnerability in his eyes, and step back from the sudden similarity of it all. 

“No,” I whisper meekly. “Don’t do this to me.”

“Emika, please.”

My heart tears in two as my words mouth a silent, “I’m sorry”, and the world suddenly cracks, revealing a mass of tangled code, before I fall into a never-ending hole as fragments of my heart flutter up to Hideo’s hands, where he clutches them weakly, tears streaking his eyes before the walls around him form once again, glaring down at me in misery and hatred for eternity.

Then the scene replays, but this time, my words form a happy “Okay”, and it flashes to Hideo’s bedroom, as the billionaire trails kisses down my jawline fervently, the fiery passion emanating throughout me as he runs a hand up my leg, his own fantasies filling my head through the Link.

Our lips meet in another kiss, but only for Hideo to fade away into a black void, and be replaced with Zero, dark and foreboding in his black armor, as he smiles deviously at me, sending a flying kiss to me as the world fades to nothingness.

I jolt awake, sweat pouring down my face as I pant heavily, pushing the bedcovers aside and grasping my head with my hands. 

I’d been tortured with these dreams every night for the past two months, and each time, the darkness swallows me up because of my choices.

I sigh, falling back onto my bed again with my arms splayed out, as I gaze at the ceiling above me, a customized view of the brightest universe ever seen to man, containing millions of stars and even the entire Milky Way itself- the same skies a young billionaire had once shown. 

At the thought, I shake my head, closing my eyes as I imagine a future where I’d simply denied the $10 million bounty hanging over Zero’s -Or, Sasuke’s- head, but I can’t, as I think of the things and luxuries it led me to, and the rising and falling of green, yellow, blue, purple, waves that forever haunt my vision in the day.

Still, as the sun slowly begins to filter through the blinds, and lights the room in a golden glow, I turn to my side, groaning, as my hands fumble for the cracked cover of my phone’s screen.

The fluorescent glow quickly fills up the space untouched by the sun’s beams, and I furrow my brows as I see a single message: 0900TS. It’s from an unknown sender, and I stare at the screen unwittingly before it finally comes to me. 

9:00 am in Times Square. Not a location in the Dark World, but the heart and bustle of New York City itself. 

Turning off my phone and burying it back under my pillow, I sigh, and roll off the pillow, stretching out my legs to knead my toes into the soft carpet, the wool of my panda bear socks brushing against the plush threads. 

“Probably just some mugger trying to get some money,” I murmur to myself as I yawn and stretch my arms, the warmth of the sun through the window suddenly shining a wondrous light onto the true beauty of a bed. 

Yet, as I click my tongue to activate the NeuroLink coated on the surface of my eyes, (Hideo’s newest invention) a nagging feeling won’t go away at the back of my head, as the days of my bounty hunting starts to kick in. 

“Perhaps a few minutes won’t hurt,” I reluctantly conclude, as I glance to the top right of my vision. 

Satisfied, I shoot an untraceable message to Sasuke, then, pulling on my hoodie, and hooking my electric skateboard over my shoulder, I head out the hotel room, shutting the door tight behind me. 

\-------------------------

As I flip up the skateboard and relish in the quickly vanishing feeling of the wind flying through my hair, I glance around, unsure of what to look for, but needing my time to feel worthwhile nevertheless. 

Of course, the endless number of people in Times Square is no joke, and after a few more moments, I suddenly smack my forehead in frustration. 

“I’m such an idiot!” I exclaim. “Of course it was just a prank call…” I curse, softer now. 

Muttering in frustration and anger, I swivel around, before I bump into a gray and white striped wall, and quickly look up to apologize. 

Instead, time stops, as the all-too familiar chiseled face of Hideo Tanaka turns down towards me, and the corners of his mouth flash up for a mere second.

I stand, rooted in place, before finally, I manage to push out, “Hideo”.

Then, just like that, I unfreeze, and being pacing back and forth as I clutch my hair with my free hand. 

“No, no, no. I must be going mad from all these sleepless nights. Yes, that’s it. That would also explain why there’s no bodyguards,” I convince myself, as I place my skateboard on the ground and turn away from the hallucination. 

“No. Wait.” Two steady hands gently grab my shoulders. I turn. “It’s me.”

I suddenly feel the moisture pooling in my eyes, and turn away in shame, quickly wiping it away. 

But the tears continue to come, and liquid streaks of black slowly start to run down my face, until they’re suddenly halted by two rough, yet gentle thumbs brushing away the tears and runny mascara, and he leans forward until I can feel the warm puffs of breath on my face. 

I look up helplessly into the surprisingly warm eyes of Hideo, shocked at the earnestness and love that fills them, completely contradicting his shut-off demeanor when I first broke his heart. 

I open my mouth to speak, but Hideo beats me to it. 

“I was too weak to say it then, and it may not even matter now, but I love you Emika. I have since that night at the restaurant, and I forever will. So I just needed to see. One last time.”

And with that, he closes the gap between us, and kisses me deeply- not heated and seductive like the ones in his home, but a sweet, passionate one that seems to carry his entire soul, and it’s as if there was never any distance between us. 

I don’t know when my own lips finally inch into the perfect puzzle that our mouths seem to create, but when they do, it seems too soon that Hideo breaks away. 

A sudden rush of air leaves the space before me empty, and I long for that feeling once again, just before my brain begins to reboot and reprimands me for such a stupid decision. 

But as I glance back up, Hideo is once again the elusive, cover boy of Forbes magazine, only now with a small light in his eyes that seems to shine in the light. 

He bows his head. “Thank you. Now I know.”

And just like that, he vanishes into the never ending cycle of humans, as I stand on my skateboard in the middle of Times Square, both in love with; and in hate of, a billionaire.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and thanks for reading! This was my very first post on ao3 after anxiously waiting a month for my account, so I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to let me know what you thought in the comments, and I'll see you next chapter!


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